Charity

This week in class we studied 1 Corinthians 13, Paul’s quintessential summary of charity. We know from the Book of Mormon that charity is “the pure love of Christ” (Moro. 7:47), and I have often been tempted just to accept that definition and move on. Charity = pure love of Christ. That’s simple enough. What’s next?

But Bro. Griffin stopped us on that phrase and analyzed each word: The pure love of Christ. The pure love of Christ. The pure love of Christ. The pure love of Christ.

“Of” tends to indicate possession; the thing before belongs to the person after. Therefore, that pure love belongs to Christ—not to us.

When we talk about charity, generally we default to talking about ways we can serve others, things we can do to be kind and generous, attention on everyone but ourselves. That is definitely good, and a big part of practicing charity. But charity itself, we don’t possess; charity is the love that Christ has for each of us, and the best we can do is to try to reflect that charity towards those around us. I don’t have the reference, but Elder Jeffrey R. Holland is quoted as saying that you and I make attempts, but true charity was seen on earth only once.

1 Cor. 13 describes charity, but in the third person, almost a disembodied concept. But when we remember that true charity is an attribute of God, those descriptions become descriptions of Christ Himself. And as we strive to become more like the Savior, they naturally become descriptions of ourselves as well.